TAMPA, Fla. (AP)  With Tropical Storm Isaac bearing down on Florida, the Republican presidential nominee to-be scrapped the first day of his national convention.

Top Romney aides and Republican National Committee officials scrambled late Saturday behind closed doors to shrink a four-day schedule of events into three for a convention that had been set to open with a sweeping indictment of President Barack Obamas tenure.

In the end, Romney bet losing a day was less costly than losing a state, without which Romney stands little chance of becoming president. What remained unclear was how the decision would alter the carefully crafted message his team hopes to create during the four-day event.